Once Bitten, Twice Shy
by Kobal
Summary: Chitose blackmails a girl with self-destructive tendencies into selling drugs and it turns out to be a terrible decision for everyone involved. /Shitenhouji-centric/ZaizenxOCxKirihara/HighSchool/DrugUse


_Hello! Just a warning that this story contains drug use, harsh language, and talk of mental illness. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 1 Honor Code

* * *

Sana shuts the front door, as quietly as she can. Chou is safe in her bed, her hangover will be swift and probably all-consuming. Sana grabs a hold of the fence to steady herself. She can do this. She can make it home on her own. One foot in front of the other. It doesn't matter that the world is spinning and a little blurry, she's made this walk so many times before.

Her tights are a size too big and it's the worst thing that's ever happened to her. She's also out of cigarettes.

The commons lay before her, defensible space illuminated by well-positioned street lamps. After she would cross the baseball fields, tennis courts and skeletal, wooden bleachers, she would vomit, crawl into bed and start her second year of high school. She'd have to call the girls in the morning to make sure they woke up on time.

Sana has a lapse in memory and digs through her purse until she finds her phone and breathes a sigh of relief. But as her face flashes to life in the electric glow of her phone, she sees two figures sitting on the bleachers. Like a beacon, her phone alerts the boys to her location. But Sana isn't afraid of them because she isn't afraid of anything. So she fumbles and puts her phone away, instead digging out her lighter and decides to ask for a smoke.

The two boys don't seem to care about her as they keep talking, shining their phones on their hands.

"Hey," Sana says. "Do either of you two have a cig I could borrow?"

But then she recognizes one. She remembers sitting in front of Chitose last year. She remembers him and his friend Koharu wrapping the teacher's desk, and everything inside it as well as on top of it, in Christmas wrapping paper.

The second boy, who isn't as much a boy as he was a young adult, nods, struggling to manage his wallet as well as his pipe. He eventually passes Sana a battered cigarette. Chitose watches her take it with an expression that is almost interest. She flicks the lighter to life and takes a deep, raggedy breath. "Thanks."

The young man nods, then shrugs and finishes his bowl. "You having a good night?" He asks.

Sana shrugs, "Good enough."

The young man just nods again, and then looks up at Chitose and says, "I'm gonna peace. Gotta get up at like, five tomorrow morning to make the trek back to uni."

"Alright," Chitose gives him a weird handshake and barely smiles.

"Keep me updated, yeah?"

"Yeah."

The guy nods at Sana a second time and passes the pipe back to Chitose. He spins himself around, pulls his hood over his head and stalks off into the dark.

Sana wrinkles her nose and takes a drag of her cigarette.

"So what party was _good enough_ for our VP?"

She opens her blurry eyes at him. "Technically not the vice-president anymore…"

Chitose shrugs at her and starts to pack the pipe again.

Sana finishes her cigarette and wraps her cardigan tighter around her. She is getting more and more sober by the second and doesn't know what to do. But then Chitose passes her the pipe.

"Thanks," She shrugs. The very second she inhales, Sana remembers words her friend Chou whispered to her in between upheavals of sushi: _don't do the twist. _"How was your night?" She asks.

She watches Chitose think for a moment; watches him watch her blow out the smoke and pass the pipe back like it was a precious stone. Close enough.

"Not exactly the finale I was hoping for." He inhales, and Sana notices how exceptionally shaggy his hair is. She's heard he is deviant but not a bad person. Not exactly tactile but got a kick out of disappointing people. He's also a bit quiet, considering how popular he is. Even in their first year, all the upper class girls flirted with him, and he let them. Never had a relationship, not that Sana remembers.

"Fair enough."

Chitose hands her back the pipe, this time stepping close to light it up for her.

But after four seconds Sana pulls away, coughing out the burning sensation in her throat. She waves her hand, as if that will make the pain stop, eyes watering behind her skimpy bangs Sana rubs her knuckles against her collar bone. She wants to talk more but instead she focuses on accumulating cooling saliva.

"You don't look so good."

Sana snarls at him, "I look _great_."

But she doesn't feel great. She feels her stomach separating. She feels her mouth get wetter. She feels the back of her throat rising up to meet her. She vomits full-force across her own shoes, wrenching up the bitter gin she had pounded down earlier.

Chitose jumps back, swearing at the spray on his own shoes.

_Don't do the twist._

* * *

Sana wakes up on the bathroom floor.

The (former) student council vice president wakes up with vomit in her hair and makeup in her mouth. What little life is left in her phone tells Sana that the time is around four in the morning. But the digital numbers are as blurry as everything around her.

Sana looks down into the murky toilet, frowning down at her vomit before she flushes it away. Gingerly, she pulls off all her clothes and crawls across the cold floor into the bathtub. The water is ice cold, shocking her into fiercer consciousness. Gradually, as the water gets warmer and warmer, Sana sinks further down, viciously scrubbing her fingernails through her hair, across her chest, over her stomach and over her thighs until it hurts too much. Then she takes a breath, slipping under the water.

There is a small lamp that sits dangerously beside the sink that provides the only light in the dim bathroom. Sana can see the light through the water when she opens her eyes. Sana can hold her breath for a very long time.

* * *

"You look nice today."

"Hair is too short to really do anything with it."

Sana ruffles her hair lamely but Rin shrugs, tugging at her own exceptionally long hair, "So easy to manage."

"Yeah well I was so drunk I took a bath at four in the morning so it's a miracle I even made it to school at all."

Rin bursts into laugher, "Are you serious? I thought you were fine to walk Chou home?"

"I was, then, guess who I run into? Chitose Senri and we blaze—"

"Oh no—"

"And I puke _all_ over him."

"Aw, babe…"

"Well, not all over him, but it might as well have been." Sana looks up at Rin. Since she stands over six feet tall, Rin is a gangly sort of giant, bone-thin and the picture of motherly concern.

"That's so…embarrassing. Do you think he'll tell anyone?"

"I don't know," Sana kicks a rock, trying to catch up with it as the two girls walk. "He never seemed like an asshole."

"Well no," Rin ponders, "but he might think it's a funny story, considering your status as vice president."

"Well I'm not—"

"But you _did _sign up to run last year, right?"

Sana looks at the ground. "Well yeah but that was before…before I thought I just needed a break from everything." She unconsciously strokes her hair, and it doesn't go unnoticed by her best friend.

Rin sighs, interlocking Sana's arm with her own as they arrive on campus.

Today is a day of introductions and shortened classes and the club fair, the same as last year, Sana remembers. Shitenhouji's high school campus is a bit more impressive than the middle school one, with stricter hedges and fewer cherry blossoms and less brick.

There are clusters of lost freshman everywhere. Sana doesn't remember the last time she felt confused or anxious. She hadn't felt confused or anxious when she cut all her hair off two months ago. It is starting to grow back, almost reaching her chin, but not quite.

"I can't wait to see all the cute underclassmen," Rin says, squeezing Sana's arm. "Older girls are so _prude_ sometimes. You would think I would have gotten more action last year considering what a gay school we go to."

"I wish you the best," Sana says. "But I mean, if we wait one more year will we have the pick of the pack."

Rin looks down at her, "Thank god we're both sluts."

* * *

Sana likes to party. She likes to drink and smoke and damage her body in socially acceptable ways. She has a metal bar through her nipple and bruises on her legs from falls she doesn't remember. Sometimes her voice is a little raspy after a night of making new friends through passing cigarettes. But Sana is a good person. She surrounds herself with people who think she is awesome. She walks her friends home when they need it. She shares her pot. She does all her homework on time. She reads the newspaper. She listens when people talk to her, making constant eye contact and sometimes it makes people uncomfortable.

So when the principal reads out her name in front of the whole school as the student council's vice president for a second time, Sana takes it, accepting the applause. She is popular because she is kind, and she is blunt and she stands up for herself and anyone else who might need it. The boys like her because one time she made out with Rin at a party. The girls like her because she is humble.

The newly elected student council president is another girl of power, named Minami Haruka who didn't have a title last year, but worked her way up by being conservative and dismissive and a little more blunt than Sana, and a little prettier.

The principal makes a few jokes, letting everyone know how great the school is, how tolerant and invested and free. Haruka herself makes a couple of blatantly harsh statements about joining clubs and the schedule for the day.

Sana's stomach doesn't start to churn until the different grades are dispersed, and she follows her fellow second-years out of the gymnasium and they start to break off into their respective classes. She watches Rin give her a sad but encouraging look before turning into her room. Sana takes a deep breath and steps into Two-B, knowing full well Chitose awaits her once again.

She takes her seat, front and center and examines every inch of her desk. As her classmates began to fill the room, she notices one or two people missing, replaced by unfamiliar faces. Transfers? Maybe. Every year there are bound to be a few kids that didn't enjoy their classmates enough, and asked to be moved to another. No one really cares, and Sana doesn't recognize any of the new faces.

Sana breathes in when she sees Chitose, almost late. He looks exhausted and a little bit wired at the same time. He sits right behind her.

Chitose gives the back of Sana's chair a light kick, maybe on accident. Either way it doesn't matter. Sana sits, rigid for a couple of hours, listening to the teachers talking, rearranging themselves. Students all around her yawn and stretch and groan and make a few jokes. Sana just tries to focus on Chitose's breathing. Sana forces herself to speak in class, to answer questions. She forces herself to not think about Chitose sitting behind her, or the disapproving sound the principal will make when he kicks her off student council for breaking the honor code. Sana almost laughs to herself, thinking of the phrase: _honor code_.

"So that concludes classes for today. The second- and third-years are expected to remain on campus until the end of the day with your clubs. Please just watch out for the first years—give them directions if they are lost, be nice…that sort of thing."

Students jump from their seats in a comical frenzy; one kid knocks over his desk, only to right it again with an unpleased look from the teacher.

"Hey, VP."

Sana freezes, her mouth going dry. She turns to Chitose, looming above her like a dark sky scraper. "Hey, what's up?" As the words leave her mouth, Sana is already embarrassed. Why the fuck would she think that was an _alright _thing to say to the guy whose shoes she vomited on. "I mean…probably shouldn't have started with that. Um, how about I apologize—"

"Do you have a minute?"

Sana tries to study Chitose's face. It is strange how someone can make a sentence sound like it has five different meanings. "Um yeah, yeah I don't have to be at Council for another thirty so—"

Chitose flicks his eyes up at the teacher at the far end of the room. Sana can tell he is also counting the remainder of the students. "I understand," He says, without looking at her, "that you are in a position of power here. You know a lot of people, and a lot of people know you."

"I guess…"

"Be my partner."

"Partner? For—"

"I sell drugs, VP. Pot mostly."

"Shh!" Sana didn't bring any substantial notebooks but she looks around for a pencil or something to stab Chitose with. "What are you—"

One more look at the teacher cleaning off the blackboard.

Chitose leans in, "You have a perfect record. Teachers love you, students adore you. This is no longer a proposition. This is blackmail."

Sana stares at Chitose for about ten full seconds before exploding.

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me, man? Do you think you're that much better than me? And how dare you try to take advantage of me like that? I've never done anything to you. How _dare_ you—"

Sana realizes they are alone now. The classroom is empty and Chitose is still smiling.

"You open yourself up to getting new buyers. You use your face and your words. And you get twenty percent of all the earnings."

"No fucking way—you don't even know me, why would you think it is _moderately_ alright for you to—twenty, are you kidding?" Sana looks around, not trusting her eyes to detect more enemies. "Fuck right off, dude."

"Every member of Student Council bearing a title is subject to random drug tests." This is threatening, Sana knows. But no one has ever been smiling while threatening her. "Our school is a pretty lenient school, I guess," Chitose shrugs. "But I mean, rumors spread fast and if the administration is concerned enough, they just might take it seriously. You know as well as I do that one offense gets any student kicked out of any club or any sports team. Two offenses gets them expelled." He puts his hands up, as if defending himself; as if he is the victim. "All you need to do is get the word out, sell a little, give your number out."

"_No_."

Chitose rubbed his forehead. "I lost my partner to university. I require someone shameless, influential and strong. If you don't to this, I will make sure you are 'randomly' drug tested within your first week of office. And it will be your last. I will give you thirty-percent of everything, plus two grams a week."

Sana is on fire. She is good at making snap decisions but this…this is her own pride as a human being. This is her future. This is university and teacher recommendations. This is her own friends and family here. This is her brother all over again. This is—

"Two grams? Like, for free?"

* * *

Shitenhouji is set before a magical forest. It is like one of those magical forests in German folklore, full of mystery and wicked creatures and beautiful spirits and witches. And teenagers who smoke marijuana out of empty soda cans.

Sana and Chitose are not on the same level as the little goblin first-years with their busted pepsi cans and punctured pissers. Chitose has a pipe that is thin, like a medieval wizard's tool. The two of them venture into the magical forest together, Sana holding the pipe while Chitose twists his grinder around and around and around.

Fear doesn't come to Sana easily. In fact, because Sana fears nothing, she finds herself unafraid of Chitose, and more intrigued. It's not like he is going to murder her.

They find a patch of boulders with dicks and breasts drawn on them. Sana holds the pipe carefully, sneaking glances at Chitose. Sana thinks maybe he is the witch of the forest with the slight hook of his nose. But he also looks like a full-fledged forest spirit.

"It's blue…"

"Blue kush."

Sana looks at the ground-up plant. It almost looks like power, tinged a dark blue. It is pungent and brutal and delicious. "Is it good?" She asks, dumbly.

Chitose passes Sana a white lighter, "Try for yourself."

Sana checks her watch. She probably shouldn't be high for a meeting with the group she was desperately trying to stay a part of. But Sana enjoys an alternate reality more than most people. She craves it. She thinks she needs it to survive. "I heard that white lighters are back luck." She takes it anyway. She flicks the lighter to life, staring down at it as the crumbles of weed shiver beneath it. Sana inhales, the hot smoke filling her throat. Sana pulls the pipe away, inhaling fresh air and looking up at the trees. She holds her breath for a couple of seconds before letting the smoke roll out her lips.

Chitose takes the pipe from her, checking the empty bowl. "Well, now it looks like you have to help me. I have some greenery to give you tomorrow before school."

"Hey," Sana says, feeling the space in her head swim lazily. "What if I say no?"

"Then you get kicked off student council and I get to go about my life as if nothing never happened."

The look on his face tells Sana that Chitose isn't messing around. "Would you…would you really do that to me?"

Chitose bites at his cheek without breaking eye contact with Sana. "I think you would thrive. I think you like danger and you like pot. You get off on making poor decisions and you live to fix other people's problems. I think you know we can make some money because we are fucking smart." He bundled the pipe in bubble wrap and put it carefully into his backpack. "Also, I have another request."

Sana raises an eyebrow; she is pretty high so she just leaves it up there.

"There is a first year, a transfer student that I want you to look after. He was in an accident and is on crutches. I'm gonna need you to carry his books for him."

"What?"

"Don't worry. He lives in the group home across from the library so it's not out of your way. It might seem like a lot but when you meet him, you'll understand."

* * *

There are booths set up outside for each club. The first years sort of just wander around, asking questions, laughing. Sana tries to sit still and act like she isn't flying high. Haruka gives her a nasty, disapproving look so Sana tries to engage. "Do you know a first-year named…Kirihara?"

Haruka is a very pretty girl, and she is very aware of it. She has sharp, blunt bangs and sleek, black hair that looks like it hasn't been cut in years. Sometimes she wears it in tight, beautiful braids, but not today.

"Sure," Haruka nods. "Plays tennis for Rikkai."

"Not anymore. He transferred here."

Haruka frowns to herself. "I guess that makes sense…"

"How?"

"I guess Rikkai was too intense for him. I heard a rumor he went a little nuts and tried to kill himself. But I have it on good authority that it wasn't like that. It's probably for the best he got the fuck out of that scary place. But I guess it sort of _looked_ like he tried to kill himself…Some people have no respect for the mentally ill."

Sana looks down at her hands. She's too high to handle a potentially suicidal teenage boy. "I'm gonna go fill up my water bottle."

Weaving in and out of the clusters of people, Sana makes her way to the fountains; her body is sagging and a little too weak for her own liking. She just tries to focus on walking in a straight line. The fountain itself is a giant rectangle of cement that overlooks all the fields below. She takes a moment to look over it all, letting the breeze lift her hair and carry her breath away from her.

Without looking, she turns the fountain on, water projecting out sharply, an ice-cold splash into her face. Sana jumps back, ripping the sculpted piece of gum from the faucet with an angry roar.

The boy standing next to her, washing his hands calmly, just stares.

"I swear to god I am gonna find whoever does shit like this—I will find them and stick all this gum in their hair." Sana looks down at her hands, heaving a sigh. Pulling the piece of gum off had split open a few of the cracks along her fingers.

"They make special lotion for that."

"Huh?" Sana turns to the boy; he is handsome, with a boyish sort of face and black hair. She stares back at him with equal, but unintentional ferocity. "Yeah, I know. I just need to be more careful." Sana looks back, smiling, "It's this heat. Turns me into a dried out mummy." She waves her cracked, crusty hands in front of her face, as if to prove her point.

The boy doesn't smile, but the cold look in his eyes is gone now.

"Are you lost?" Sana asks suddenly. "If you need help choosing a club—"

"No," He says, then seems to think that was a little too harsh. "I play tennis."

"Oh!" Sana inflates. "Well we have a very good tennis team here. We came in third at nationals last year." She carefully turns the water back on, filling up her bottle.

"I know," The boy says.

"Oh, okay," Sana laughs, spinning the plastic bottle closed. "I guess there is no point in me rambling on if you've got everything figured out. See you around." She doesn't give the boy the chance to say whatever it looks like he was going to say before she turns on her toes and heads back to the crowd, trying to keep an eye out for the boy on crutches.

"Now that's not fair, you can't steal everyone from the tennis team."

Sana looks up to her right, "Shiraishi! Hey man how's it going?"

Shiraishi smiles down at her, illuminated by the sun, looking at him is not unlike looking into the sun itself. "Not a lot of first-years want to try out for the tennis team already so please don't make student council sound like more fun than running around in the heat and chasing after tennis balls."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Were you not just trying to steal our new resident genius?"

Sana looks back at the water fountain. The boy is gone. "I don't…think so." She was going to ask the boy's name but she sees something or someone catch Shiraishi's eye from farther away. Sana tries to follow his gaze over different heads until she sees a girl, not very tall and not conventionally attractive fiddle with one of her two loose braids while looking extremely bored while a massive, monk-like boy meditates beside her. Sana sneaks a look back at Shiraishi; he looks like he is watching a meteor shower.

"Sorry?" He says, checking back into reality.

"Oh, nothing, never mind. Oh, but think about what you guys wanna do for the first festival of the year. I mean, no one expects you guys to beat your cross-dressing, awe-inspiring café, but now you need to know the standards you and your team are being held to."

"Yeah I'll see if the guys are up to the challenge."

Sana wants to say something else, but her heart kind of hurts so she just smiles and waves herself away.

* * *

Turns out, Kirihara isn't that hard to find. Out of the eclectic group of people that appear to be waiting for Sana at the front gate, the boy with crutches looks pretty normal. It's Chitose that is strangely out of place, looming over everyone else like a tree. There is the boy Sana knows vaguely as Kenya, talking enthusiastically to the girl with braids who, in turn, looks like she is about to die of heatstroke.

"Look who's here!" Chitose looks strangely excited to see Sana, all things considered. "Guys, this is my new friend, Sana. Sana, this is Kenya, Kirihara and Hisae."

Sana looks at the group, all of whom look a little mad that they had to wait for her. "Sorry," She says, "I had to finish up with the booth and it took a little longer than—"

Chitose picks a backpack off the sidewalk and tosses it at Sana, who jumps for it, catching it awkwardly. The first thing she sees is Kirihara's scowl. He is a strange-looking boy, with curly hair and childlike lips and pretty eyes. Eyes that leave Sana feeling like she has failed some kind of test.

Kenya flings his arm around Hisae's shoulders, the small girl groaning. "Let's go," Kenya sighed, "I'm _starving_." He starts to drag the girl under him down the sidewalk, and Chitose follows without a second look at Sana.

"So, Brainchild, are you thinking of joining any clubs?"

"I'm not sure how long I am banned from clubs and stuff." Sana watches Hisae pinch Kenya until he lets her go. "Track is out. Maybe I'll take up chess."

"Nerd," Kenya hissed.

"I was _joking_."

Sana takes up pace behind everyone. She notices the ginger way Kirihara goes about moving, like he isn't used to the crutches. She notices the way Kenya won't look at him, but the way Hisae can't stop. The other girl is practically dragging her feet to make sure the group doesn't outrun Kirihara. Chitose doesn't seem to care either way.

But eventually Kenya splits off, rubbing Hisae's head until her hair gets all frizzy. Sana almost laughs at the look on the poor girl's face. Instead of saying goodbye to Chitose, Kenya just whistles at him. But then he turns to Sana, "You know, VP, that the tennis club gets the cross-dressing café every year since, you know, we owned it."

Sana looks back, deadpan, "No. The chess club gets it this year." At the look of disbelief on Kenya's face, Sana breaks into a smile, "I'm kidding. You're legendary."

"You were practically born to wear a dress, Kenya," Chitose laughs.

Kirihara accidently kicks his crutch and almost trips. Sana notices his face is strangely unpleasant, like he is in a little bit of physical and somehow mental pain.

Chitose grabs Hisae by one of her braids and drags her down the sidewalk while Kenya branches off down a side street, leaving Sana and Kirihara at the intersection. Sana isn't one to feel uncomfortable, so she points across the street, "That way?"

"Yeah," Kirihara mumbles focusing on his feet.

The light of oncoming traffic turns to yellow and Sana steps into the street.

"Don't—"

Sana freezes at Kirihara's outstretched hand. Was he going to grab her?

"Just wait until it's _green_, do you have a death wish?"

Sana stares at Kirihara for a second as his arm drops back to his crutches. She watches him watch the traffic light. As soon as the green light awakens, Kirihara starts moving. Sana clings to the boy's backpack a little tighter as she watches him anxiously cross the street. The fear in his eyes is very real.

Sana isn't sure what to say when they reach the other side of the intersection. She knows the library isn't too far so she can't imagine the group home would be either. She doesn't understand why they would make an injured student walk to school, but she still doesn't say anything. Somehow, Sana feels like almost every topic of discussion imaginable is somehow taboo with this kid. "So, how do you feel about your first day? Before you say anything though, I promise it gets better."

For the next thirty seconds, Sana is sure that Kirihara is going to ignore her. But then he takes a breath, "It's fine."

It takes Sana a second to think that maybe he is just being polite. She is a year older than him. But there is a hesitance in his voice that leads her to believe it's something else.

But then she hears something between a joke and crude remark, "So is this protocol for every transfer student? Does every one of us get a cute girl to carry their books and _shit_? Or do you just _want_ something from me?"

Without missing a beat, Sana sighs back, "It's not my choice."

"Did you lose a bet?"

"What?"

"Did you lose a _bet_." This time it isn't a question.

"It's a favor."

It's like the word stuns him.

"I mean, it is sort of my job to make sure everyone feels at home here, and I know transferring schools can be hard and…and Chitose asked me to help you out and—and it's no problem at all so…"

"Give me back my backpack."

"What?"

"Give it to me."

"It's totally fine, I promise. I don't mind helping—"

Clearly Sana hasn't said the right thing because it looks like Kirihara is on fire. Sana can sense danger when she sees it. She jumps back, ripping off the bag and practically throwing it at him. The two of them freeze as Kirihara looks at Sana's outstretched hand. "What is that? _Gross_."

Sana doesn't run from anything anymore so she hurls the backpack into the street.

"It's called eczema, asshole. I'm done. Take your crutches and tell Chitose he can go _fuck_ himself."

* * *

_That was chapter one! If you liked it, leave a review. If you didn't like it, leave a review. _


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